Erlanger, Avraham (Avri)

Son of Otilia and Jacob, was born in 1924 in Worms, Germany to parents who are observant of Israel. He attended the local elementary school and, with the rise of the Nazi regime, moved to the Jewish school in the district. He was a member of the Jewish Scout Movement, later known as the Young Maccabee. In 1939 he stopped his studies and left for agricultural training in Denmark. He worked in Copenhagen-in the home of a vegetable-growing family, and in the village-in a farmer’s house. In March 1941, he immigrated to Israel as part of the Youth Aliyah, traveling through Russia, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. In Israel he came to son of Shemen, where he first worked as a carpenter and only later returned to his agricultural work. Out of concern for the fate of his parents, he insisted on enlisting, and in 1942 he joined an infantry unit in the British army and served there for four years. While in Egypt and the Jewish Brigade in Europe, he maintained constant contact with his friends. When he was discharged from the British army, he returned to his friends at Kibbutz Gezer. He knew how to adapt quickly to the agriculture. Was a hard worker and a social man and gifted with a great optimism. During the War of Independence he fought to defend his kibbutz. Carrot was located near the Ramle-Latrun road. The legion forces in the area saw it as a threat and sought to conquer it in anticipation of the approaching truce. On Tuesday, June 10, 1948, an enemy force composed of a Legion Company, irregular forces and armored vehicles attacked the kibbutz, and the heavy enemy fire destroyed the defensive positions and paralyzed any possibility of organized resistance. Avraham was wounded, managed to escape from the occupied agriculture, dragged himself to the wadi, where he was found dead on the day after the battle, and apparently lost himself in the last grenade he had left in order to avoid falling into enemy hands.